Writers on a NE Stage presents Salman Rushdie

Friday

Sep 28, 2012 at 3:15 AM

PORTSMOUTH — The internationally celebrated author Salman Rushdie will take the stage on Wed., Oct. 10. Rushdie will discuss his new memoir titled JOSEPH ANTON: A Memoir. Following his discussion, he will be interviewed by Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio's "Word of Mouth," which will air the segment to NHPR listeners.

The book tells the extraordinary tale of Rushdie's years driven underground by an Islamist threat death against him for his work The Satanic Verses, one of 11 novels he has published.

"Rushdie's journey and literature is unique, and we are honored to have this international literary star in our series. Not only are his novels phenomenal, but he has a story of persecution that must be shared. I cannot wait to hear from him and to share his tale with so many," said Patricia Lynch, Executive Director of the Music Hall and Executive Producer of Writers on a New England Stage.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The international event that was one man's personal crisis is the story of this remarkable, long-awaited memoir. On February 14, 1989, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist and told that he had been "sentenced to death" by the Ayatollah Khomeini. For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime was that he had written a novel, The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being "against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran."

So begins the extraordinary story of how a writer was forced underground, moving from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team. He was asked to choose an alias that the police could call him. He thought of writers he loved and combinations of their first names; then it came to him: Conrad and Chekhov — Joseph Anton.

In his most personal book yet, Rushdie finally discusses the details of what it was like to live during those fatwa years:

— Living for NINE years under the constant threat of being murdered

— The ultimate threat to freedom of speech

— Questioning the worth of becoming the artist he had worked so hard to be, the career he had always wanted, the career he built for himself after leaving a job as a copy writer for a London advertising firm (Yes, Rushdie used to write jingles before becoming a successful novelist!)

-- The personal and professional relationships that fractured under the incredible stress

— The intimate details of four marriages — love, betrayal, guilt, divorce, and the untimely death of his oldest son's mother

— The struggle to be the father he wanted to be to his two sons while living off the grid

— The family and friends who sustained him

— The heroic efforts by some publishers and bookstores to support him, to fight for him

— How the writing of his first children's book for his oldest son brought him out of the darkness, gave him hope to write again after almost giving up

— The financial stress of living on the run, living in friends' houses, renting new ones, constantly moving

— Negotiating with the British and American governments and the seemingly endless amount of bureaucracy involved

— The frustrating, often comic back and forth with his security guards about his every move

In this unimaginable conflict between the personal and political, Salman Rushdie followed the wisdom of one of his literary heroes. It was Joseph Conrad who wrote "I must live till I die." This simple sentence was something that gave Rushdie courage to go on. Rushdie not only survived, but he lived through those horrible years, continuing to write, continuing to fight for freedoms that most of us take for granted. This is a story of freedom lost and regained, of a life changed forever, and of an important fight not just for this one amazing artist but for all of us.

JOSEPH ANTON is exceptionally candid, compelling, provocative, moving, and of vital importance, because what happened to Salman Rushdie was the first act of a drama that is still unfolding somewhere in the world every day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Salman Rushdie is the author of eleven novels: Grimus, Midnight's Children (which was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981), Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor's Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown and The Enchantress of Florence, and Luka and the Fire of Life.

He is also the author of a book of stories, East, West, and three works of non-fiction — Imaginary Homelands, The Jaguar Smile, and Step Across This Line. He is the co-editor of Mirrorwork, an anthology of contemporary Indian writing, and of the 2008 Best American Short Stories anthology. He has adapted Midnight's Children for the stage. It was performed in London and New York by the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2004, an opera based upon Haroun and the Sea of Stories was premiered by the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.

A Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, Salman Rushdie has received, among other honors, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel (twice), the Writers' Guild Award, the James Tait Black Prize, the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature, Author of the Year Prizes in both Britain and Germany, and the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger. His books have been translated into over forty languages.

Book Clubs and High School Guests of The Music Hall

At each Writers event, The Music Hall hosts local high school students selected by their teachers, who come free of charge to the event and get an opportunity to meet the author. The Music Hall welcomes local book clubs attending on the night to take part in a drawing to be guests at a private backstage book signing/reception with the featured writer. For more information on how to join the Writers on a New England Stage book club list and drawing, email Associate Producer Margaret Talcott at mtalcottthemusichall.org. Interested high school and middle teachers can contact Programming Coordinator Chris Curtis at ccurtisthemusichall.org

Tickets and Signed Books

Tickets are $13 ($11 for members of The Music Hall and NH Public Radio). For each 1-2 tickets sold, the purchase of a book voucher ($30) is required. Vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event for a signed copy of Rushdie's discussed work, JOSEPH ANTON.

Tickets can be purchased at The Music Hall box office in the Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut St., or over the phone at 603-436-2400. Tickets and vouchers are not available online for Salman Rushdie.

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